Browsed byTag: television

Maybe you missed it, but New York Times writer Ginia Bellafante just insulted about half of HBO’s new audience share. It took place during a review (and I use that term loosely, here) of HBO’s new series Game of Thrones, adapted from George R. R. Martin’s exceedingly popular Song of Ice and Fire series of gritty-but-epic fantasy novels. I haven’t read them, but my former roommate has. In fact, when she heard that HBO was making a ten-episode series from…

Yes, now you too can watch poorly-dubbed Italian classics like Playgirls and the Vampire, for free, on AMC. This is the perfect way to celebrate Halloween, unless you a) live near abandoned barns you can explore or b) have a goodly amount of small-batch bourbon and a toolbox of Hammer films at the ready. (Parties are also good.) Also good is the fact that AMC is streaming episodes of the original Prisoner series, to tie-in with their upcoming adaptation starring…

God shows up in a white Impala and banishes Lucifer to Hell with a bitchin’ guitar solo. (God is played by Jimmy Page.) Alternatively, God shows up in a white Impala and tells everyone this was all just a test of humanity. Then Dean punches him in the face. (God is played by William Shatner.) Dean convinces the angels and demons to lay aside their feud by distracting them with porn. (“How do you know the dialogue’s unrealistic, Cass? You spend…

I had a good weekend. It involved learning Japanese, visiting The ROM, and learning how to play Crokinole from Karl Schroeder, who is enough of a crack shot that he can manipulate the board such that you might feel a little bit better about your total lack of hand-eye coordination, until you realise what he’s done. He’s crafty, that one. My weekend also involved Kings, which is sort of like what would happen if people wrote slash-friendly AU Bible fanfic,…

British female scientists want a female Doctor, ostensibly to raise the profile of female scientists in general. Me, I’m just excited about the possibility of Dawkins (himself a guest star on the show and married to a former Time Lady) explain to us the evolutionary biology of a species which gender-morphs male-to-female close to the end of its life cycle.

You know how you’re supposed to eat a lot of food and drink a ton of water before you give blood? Turns out, you’re really supposed to do those things. Otherwise, you might have a moment of complete and epic FAIL after donating, and have to prevail upon the graces of some poor guy who doesn’t even believe in altruism when you collapse to the floor in an unconscious heap. Signs You’re About to Faint: You feel completely fine. Fine…

I should have listened to Henry Jenkins when he talked about Supernatural. (And to everyone who pimped Supernatural to me.) Because then I would have grown accustomed to this level of awesome: This is Jensen Ackles, who plays “Dean” on Supernatural, doing his “Eye of the Tiger” routine as a special feature to the latest episode. After seeing this, it’s impossible to not to imagine John McCain doing the same each time he begins a rally with the song. (And I…

Madeline Ashby has worked with Intel Labs, the Institute for the Future, SciFutures, Nesta, Data & Society, The Atlantic Council, the ASU Center for Science and the Imagination, Changeist, and others. She has spoken at SXSW, FutureEverything, MozFest, and other events. Her essays have appeared at BoingBoing, io9, WorldChanging, Creators Project, Arcfinity, MISC Magazine, and FutureNow. Her fiction has appeared in Slate, MIT Tech Review, and elsewhere. She is the author of the Machine Dynasty novels. Her novel Company Town was a Canada Reads finalist.